Gene/Protein Disease Symptom Drug Enzyme Compound
Pivot Concepts:   Target Concepts:
Query: UMLS:C0851184 (thinning)
 11,252 document(s) hit in 31,850,051 MEDLINE articles (0.00 seconds)

Mild keratoconjunctivitis sicca can become dramatically worse after cataract extraction and result in corneal thinning and perforation. Anticipation of this problem can prevent it, but lack of recognition may result in permanent central scarring from ulceration, which responds slowly to treatment.
 ...
PMID:Sterile corneal ulcers after cataract surgery in keratoconjunctivitis sicca. 62 46

The central corneal thickness of 17 patients with keratoconjunctivitis sicca was compared with the thickness recorded in a control group of 105 subjects with healthy eyes. A moderate, but highly statistically significant central corneal thinning was found in the keratoconjunctivitis sicca group. The possible etiology and clinical importance of this finding is briefly discussed.
 ...
PMID:The central corneal thickness in keratoconjunctivitis sicca. 155 62

We report two patients with keratoconjunctivitis sicca and rheumatoid arthritis whose corneal surfaces regained their integrity following tarsorrhaphy when conservative therapeutic measures were unsuccessful. We suggest that tarsorrhaphy be considered early in the course of the disease in such patients when other measures have failed to arrest progressive thinning of the cornea.
 ...
PMID:Tarsorrhaphy for corneal disease in patients with rheumatoid arthritis. 334 Mar 99

In patients who have graft-vs-host disease (GVHD) after bone marrow transplantation, ocular involvement occurs in approximately 60% of cases. Among 13 such GVHD patients, the most frequent ocular manifestations included keratoconjunctivitis sicca, cicatricial lagophthalmos, and sterile conjunctivitis and uveitis. The severe ocular complications of persistent corneal epithelial defects and both noninfected and infected stromal ulceration were related to the concomitant dry-eye condition and could be managed by conventional therapy including topical lubricants and antibiotics, punctal occlusion, bandage soft contact lenses, tarsorrhaphy, tissue adhesive, conjunctival flap, and conjunctival homograft. Postmortem and surgical tissues from four patients revealed conjunctival and corneal epithelial thinning and keratinization, lacrimal inspissation without inflammatory infiltration, and diffuse choroiditis. Keratoconjunctivitis sicca in GVHD patients might be a combined result of drug toxicity effects and GVHD. The frequent and potentially severe ocular problems in these patients suggest that close ophthalmic monitoring is mandatory in bone marrow transplant recipients.
 ...
PMID:Ocular manifestations of graft-vs-host disease. 633 37

In a prospective study of 325 patients with adult rheumatoid arthritis, ocular complications were seen in 73 patients (22.4%). Keratoconjunctivitis sicca was the most common ocular lesion. Other lesions were episcleritis, scleritis, marginal thinning of the cornea with keratolysis, stromal corneal opacities with peripheral vascularisation, and iridocyclitis. The mean duration of the arthritis and the mean duration of seropositivity were found to be significantly higher in patients with ocular complications. Physicians should include ophthalmic examination as a routine in their protocol for patients with rheumatoid arthritis to facilitate early diagnosis and treatment of ocular complications.
 ...
PMID:Ocular complications of adult rheumatoid arthritis. 885 25

Systemic scleroderma is a progressive multi-system connective tissue disease. Ocular involvement includes keratoconjunctivitis sicca, progressive shallowing of conjunctival fornices, peripheral ulcerative keratitis and eyelid tightness. No association has been reported between scleroderma and pellucid marginal degeneration, which is a rare bilateral corneal ectasia. Pellucid marginal degeneration is characterised by non-inflammatory and progressive peripheral corneal thinning inferiorly, often with high against-the-rule astigmatism. We report a case of a 55-year-old woman with systemic scleroderma who presented with rapidly progressing against-the-rule astigmatism. The differential diagnosis of peripheral corneal thinning and the challenge of the surgical management of pellucid marginal degeneration are briefly discussed.
 ...
PMID:Pellucid marginal degeneration and scleroderma. 1518 10

Keratoconus is an ocular condition that causes corneal thinning, cone formation and scarring. In view of a hypothesis that activated MMP-2 may initiate or facilitate disease progression, the MMP-2/TIMP systems of stromal cells derived from normal and keratoconic corneas have been compared. To achieve this, stromal cell cultures were established from normal, clear keratoconic (KCS-1) and scarred keratoconic (KCS-2) corneas. The secreted MMP-2 was assayed using [(3)H]Type IV collagen and analysed by zymography. Optimally maintained and nutrient deprived cells were subsequently incubated with [(3)H]lysine. The secreted radiolabelled macromolecules were separated and quantified. The results obtained indicated that optimally maintained KCS-1 stromal cells produced more MMP-2 than normal stromal cells but not TIMP. Nutrient deprivation induced MMP-2 activation and cell death. Surviving cells upregulated TIMP-1 synthesis and in this respect became similar to the KCS-2 stromal cells that did not excessively generate activated MMP-2 or die as a consequence of nutrient deprivation. From these results, it was concluded that KCS-1 stromal cells over-expressed MMP-2 without increasing TIMP production. This may facilitate MMP-2 activation in vivo and hence advance the keratoconic condition. KCS-2 cultures over-expressed both MMP-2 and TIMP-1. Because TIMP-1 inhibits MMP-2 activity and protects against cell death it may be of significance in initiating repair processes and curtailing keratoconus.
 ...
PMID:Keratoconus: matrix metalloproteinase-2 activation and TIMP modulation. 1651 44

Dry eye is a substantial problem in a large number of human and canine patients. Numerous laboratory models for tear deficiency exist using genetically predisposed rodent models, animals treated with topical anti-muscarinics, or those kept in environments with increased air flow to produce the ocular surface changes seen in human patients. Canine keratoconjunctivitis sicca, seen in many thousands of dogs kept as companion animals, can provide a valuable spontaneous model for testing tear replacement medications that might better model disease in human patients, existing as it does in an outbred population that live in the same environments as their owners. Here the development of a crosslinked hyaluronic acid topical drop is described together with the results of trials on dogs with spontaneous keratoconjunctivitis sicca. Although hyaluronic acid in its native form in tear replacement drops shows a Newtonian rheology, the crosslinked product described here behaves in a non-Newtonian manner, with the same shear thinning shown by the tear film itself. The crosslinked product thus shows itself as a potentially valuable tear replacement medication for the human dry eye population as well as for dogs with the same condition.
 ...
PMID:Optimising tear replacement rheology in canine keratoconjunctivitis sicca. 2930 47